Breaking news from the City Charter

It's not exactly a page-turner, but you can learn interesting things reading the City Charter. Take the following, for instance:

CITY COUNCIL

Article 2. Section 6. Meetings.
Council shall convene in regular meetings at least once each month at the City Hall at a time to be fixed by ordinance...

So, all the huffing and puffing about the Council's 2007 meeting schedule could be easily remedied by deciding to meet once a month for business (implying a second meeting for an agenda-setting session).

Think of the angst that can be saved: The Council would get relief from a surfeit of meetings plus time to study proposals before they do meet. The Clerk would have more than adequate time to get agendas, resolutions, ordinances, advertising and minutes organized. The Administration would gain needed time to get its act together. What's not to like?

THE MAYOR

Article 3. Section 3. General Duties.
He shall annually report to the Council and the public on the work of the previous year and on the condition and requirements of the city government ... He shall supervise the departments of the City government and shall require each department to make an annual ... report of its work...

This has traditionally taken the form of the State of the City Address, delivered annually at the Council reorganization, summing up the previous year and laying out the Mayor's agenda for the upcoming year.

Contents of the address are eagerly awaited by the populace and it has traditionally been made available in print and, since the advent of the Internet, on the City's official website.

We continue the tradition of eagerly awaiting the State of the City Address and its availability on the city's website and in print.

Meanwhile, shouldn't something be done about the fact that the Charter requires the meetings to be in City Hall and they are not? And how about that masculine language which must offend Her Honor as much as it does the rest of us?

City Council reorganizes Monday evening, January 8, 2007, 8 PM, at the Courthouse, Watchung Avenue and East 4th Street.

-- Dan Damon

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